The dressage trainer who denied being the whistleblower who led to Charlotte Dujardin’s Olympic ban has made a series of damning allegations about horse abuse by the sport’s top brass in a now-deleted YouTube clip.
Alicia Dickinson, identified by sources as one of the people who was in the stable when the devastating images of Dujardin repeatedly whipping a horse by the legs “like an elephant in a circus” were filmed, says she did not go to authorities.
However, Mail Sport has seen a now-deleted clip from Dickinson’s channel, Your Riding Success, in which she claims her own dream of becoming an Olympic champion “stalled because I wasn’t willing to do what coaches wanted me to do”, claims she was “chased by an Olympic medallist with a whip” and adds that “the best riders beat their horses”.
Dickinson, originally from Australia but now living in London, is believed to have brought clients to Dujardin for training. After denying she was behind the leak, which led to Dujardin pulling out of the Games before being provisionally banned by the International Federation of Equestrian Sports, she claimed the business relationship between the pair ended after the lesson shown in the harrowing video that has shocked the sport.
“I’ve seen so many things you can’t even comprehend,” Dickinson tells co-host Natasha Althoff in a clip believed to have been posted around July 20 and then deleted hours after the storm hit.
Alicia Dickinson is believed to have been among those present during the viral clip of Olympic champion Charlotte Dickinson whipping a horse more than 24 times.
The dressage trainer said her career stalled after she was unwilling to “do what riders asked of her to get there.”
Dujardin, a three-time Olympic gold medallist, has been suspended for six months after the video was sent to the International Federation for Equestrian Sports.
“The reason my career has stalled is that I’m not willing to do what the best riders do to get there. I don’t want a medal badly enough to beat my horse.”
“If I look back on my career, there are times when I feel ashamed. I followed my idols and forgot my own principles.”
Dickinson, whose channel has 152,000 subscribers, called on his followers to help “clean up the sport.”
“If we, as small people, stand up and say, ‘We don’t want a medal so badly, we’re not going to do it,’ then eventually the sport will get better again. Anyone who isn’t an Olympic medalist or an Olympic athlete who does these things has a chance to redeem themselves because everyone understands that they were just following the best. In this day and age we know what’s wrong.”
Dickinson admitted to mistreating horses during her career. “I have to say there was a time when I did that too, I’ll be honest,” she says.
“In the end, that was my goal, so why wouldn’t I do it? They’ve achieved what I wanted to achieve. They tell me this is what I want to do, they tell me it’s not cruel, it’s not this, it’s not that, the horses look good.”
He also stated that those at the top are there because of how they treat horses.
In a now-deleted clip from his channel, Dickinson claimed that top riders “beat their horses.”
“It’s very difficult to break through,” Dickinson added. “They might get an 80 percent (score) for doing that. I don’t want to do it. Neither should anyone else. They might get a little bit higher because they do it and break the horse’s spirit a little bit, but it’s not right.”
Dickinson also urged other trainers to “be brave and make the decision not to do it.” “I’ve done it… there are times I’m not proud of. I guarantee you there were times where I was rude, very mean to students and not kind to horses because I was told so. Not only was I told so, but I was encouraged to do so.”
The images, which Dujardin said were four years old, were handed over to Dutch lawyer Stephan Wensing, who then filed the complaint.
Dickinson took to Instagram to deny she was behind it. She posted: “This week’s media revelations about Charlotte Dujardin have been difficult to process.
“I want to make it clear: I am not the complainant, I did not film the video and any speculation on the internet is unfounded. Our business relationship ended following the lesson depicted in the video. I await the outcome of the FEI investigation and will not be commenting further at this time.”
However, the YouTube star with more than 150,000 subscribers has denied leaking the now-viral clip and revealed that his business relationship with Dujardin ended after the lesson shown in the video.
Dujardin, who needed one more medal to become the most successful British Olympian of all time, voluntarily withdrew from the Games before being suspended pending an investigation.
The 39-year-old has since faced widespread criticism, been sacked as an ambassador for a horse welfare charity and lost sponsors.
Ms Dickinson has not yet responded to Mail Sport’s request for comment.